By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer
Educators ask if Maine is ready for new diploma.

AUBURN – Teachers meeting with Gov. John Baldacci and state Education Commissioner Susan Gendron Monday questioned how schools and future high school students will be ready for a new high school diploma in 2010.

Freshman in the class of 2010 will be in school this fall, said Mt. Blue High School math chair Donna Wells. Wells asked how to begin giving all those freshman more challenging math courses when the standards aren’t yet developed.

“We’re putting the cart before the horse,” Wells said.

Gendron explained that not-yet-developed expectations for the new diploma will be “built in” as students go through high school. Schools will have ample time to revise teaching so students will achieve the new diploma in 2010, Gendron said.

The proposed state-endorsed 2010 diploma will be different than existing diplomas, Gendron explained, in that it will be given to students who exhibit they know enough to get accepted to college or get a job in the more challenging work force. Existing diplomas are based on credits, Gendron said.

The goal is to encourage all high school students to get courses they’ll need to go to college. For some students who otherwise would have taken easier courses, it will mean they’ll have to take more challenging studies to get the new diploma, such as four years of math including algebra II and statistics.

Not achieving the state-endorsed diploma will mean graduates get the old, credit-based diploma, Gendron said.

Lewiston math teacher Jim Perkins cautioned that “high standards for all is different than high standards for each.” If every student is given the same high standards, students in the top 25 percent and students in the low 25 percent may suffer, he said.

If everyone has the same standards, the top students won’t have to work as hard, Perkins said.

Gendron agreed that each student’s education should be personal and relevant, but said across the country higher math skills are being demanded. Now, some students graduate with inferior knowledge when compared to others. “My fear is that we have closed doors” on those students, she said.

Other questions teachers raised of Baldacci and Gendron ranged from students being over-tested to teachers not having enough time to plan and develop lessons to kindergarten students showing up not ready for school.

Silvia Moore-Young said she teaches music in Sabattus and sees 500 students each week. Some kindergarten students are coming to school too young, she said. “I had a new kindergarten student today who did not know her last name,” Moore-Young said.

“Statewide, we’re seeing more children coming to school not ready,” Gendron said. The state is working on plans to help families of children from birth to age five be ready for school, the commissioner said.

Baldacci praised Maine education as being among the best in the country, and credited teachers with being on the front-line. Baldacci pledged to improve the situation of students being over-tested, and said his administration is working to boost the minimum starting pay of teachers to $30,000 a year.

Pay isn’t the only reasons why people become teachers, but pay is important, Baldacci said.